People just wouldn’t listen to reason, would they? Consider Javier Clemente, his assistant coaches and the rest of the national side management team. One lacklustre game, a sorry performance by the whole team, and it is “déjà-vu” all over again. Panic. Frustration openly exhibited by the coach. Frantic search for makeshift solutions. As usual.
Let’s go back to reason. What makes the national team tick is the interaction of its numerous parts. That’s a no-brainer. The question a seasoned coach like Clemente, who should know better, should ask himself is this : is the organization, the Lions I mean, producing the results it has been set up to produce? The answer is straightforward enough. Yes, the Lions are producing the results they should be expected to come up with. They are, and it is clear enough, performing at the level the whole team set-up warrants. That is a fact.
I am a sensible man, I can live with that. And so should the coach and the rest of all sensible Cameroonians. Or perhaps, they see things otherwise and believe that the Lions should be doing better. Fair enough. So, go ahead, make changes. But this is where the problem is. As far as change in organizations is concerned, and the Lions are not a different breed, you start with taking stock of the situation, i.e. assessing your strengths and weaknesses, and then you keep in mind this simple truth : you cannot change just one thing. Change has to be pervasive and wholesale.
That has never been considered nor performed in Cameroon. Ever. And comprehensive change will not be achieved any time soon back home. That is another fact. We may pretend, but we do not want change. We may pay lip service to the culture of excellence and high performance, but we will not pay the price that ideal commands.
One coach, the only one in recent memory, Otto Pfister, sat down, looked all of us in the eye and said bluntly that there just wasn’t much talent available. And I believe he encouraged us to wait ten years. I would say 15 years is a more reasonable delay. Mr. Pfister was of course right, and we know it.
We have one exceptional player and 15 very ordinary ones. We are doing fine; we are exactly where we should be. Lower middle of the table, aspiring to get to the next rung on the ladder, hopefully upwards. Blame the Fédération camerounaise de football or the MINSEP for what, really?. Because they have been inept and unaccountable? So? Blame the players? For being ordinary footballers, like it was their fault?
Reason says : Relax. There’s also volleyball.
